Imitation fur and process of making the same



March 13, 1928.

C. T. PASTOR IMITATION FUR AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Filed March1926 INVENTOR BY f3 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 13, 1928.

UNITED STATES- CARLOS T. PASTOR, OF PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK.

IMITATION run AND rnocnss or MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed March 20, 1926, Serial No.

The invention relates to anartificial or imitation fur, and the objectthereof is to provide a fabric which will simulate natural fur asclosely as possible both in appear- 5 ance and in touch.

There is a real need for artificial furs and fur imitations since thepresent supply of natural furs is wholly inadequate to meet the demandand the price thereof is conse- .0 .quently so high as to be prohibitiveexcept for the rich.

Such fur imitations have heretofore been made by weaving a pile fabricand then pressing or dyeing it in imitation of the real 5 'fur. The warpand filling of the ground or base of these pile fabrics, however, isrelatively thick and stiff, and, being heavyt-o the touch, produces aneffect quite different from the soft elastic quality-of the tanned lskin of real fur. Furthermore, the effect ob tained by pressing the pileis not lasting.

I have discovered that by embedding and anchoring the ends of suitablefibres or tufts of fibres in a thin sheetof soft pliable material, suchfor example as a soft vulcanized rubber or some equivalent material orcomposition, I can obtain a fur imitation which is very similar inappearance and touch to a natural fur.

0 The difficulty, from the manufacturing point of 'view, has been in theinsertion of the fibres evenly or in the pattern desired, in the backingor skin of soft rubber or other plastic composition before it solidifies5 or is hardened by vulcanization sufiiciently to thereby fix the furfibres in place. This difficulty I now overcome in the following manner,with a ground of warp and filling and with the pile distributed thereinas desired, and I then apply to the back or under surface of the fabricthe permanent backing or skin in manner to cause it to adhere to andsecurely fix the pile and thereupon remove the original ground of warpand filling threads which has now served its purpose.

The invention is illustrated, in its several stages, in theyaccompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a section, on an enlargedscale, of the pile fabric as first formed, comprising pile threads orfibres a, warp b, and lling a, Fig. 2 is a. corresponding sectionshowing the fabric after the permanent backing d e has been appliedthereto, and

5 Fig. 3 shows, in a like section, the fabric 96,344, and in Germanyfiovember 28, 1925.

when completed by the removal of the warp and filling.

For a. backing or skin of rubber, which is the material I prefer to usefor the purpose, the back of the pile fabric is spread with a rubbersolution or sprayed with spray-rubber so that the soft rubber coating dwill adhere to and penetrate more or less into and around the fibresconstituting the pile at their looped inner ends, and then a thin sheete of rubber is laid thereon and the whole fabric is vulcanized, in avulcanizing oven or in any suitable way. In case a. cel lulose or othercomposition is used for the backing or skin, a suitably thick or stiffsolution of the composition may be spread in a thin coating over theback of the pile fabric and allowed to solidify.

.After the permanent backing has been applied to the fabric, thetemporary ground of warp and. filling may-be removed mechanically orotherwise; but, in the preferred practice of my invention, I firstcarbonize or decompose the fibres of these threads by chemical actionand then effect their removal by stretching and beating or brushing thefabric, usually with the assistance of a vacuum suction. The pile or furwill preferably be of tussah silk, mo-

hair, camels hair, wool of various kinds, or other animal fibre, whichwill not be affected by the chemical action referred to, while the warpand filling are of cotton or other vegetable fibre and hence are readilycarbonized or decomposed by a weak ten per cent. solution ofhydrochloric acid, for example, or preferably by soaking the fabric inan acid-carrier such, as a solution of aluminum or magnesium chlorideand then effecting the release of the acid radical therein and thechemical reaction by the aplication of heat. A temperature suitable orthe purpose will range from about 80 to the neighborhood of 120 C. Incase it is desired to use threads of. vegetable fibre, as cotton, rayon,etc., for the pile, these threads can be rendered immune to the actionof the acid used for the removal of the ground threads by soaking themfor example in asoap or other alkaline or anti-acidsolution and allowingthem to dry before weaving them into the fabric; or the warp and fillingthreads may be filled in advance of the weaving with. an acid-carrier,preferably aluminum chloride, which releases its acid radical veryslowly if at all at -ordinary atmospheric temperatures. Statedgenerally, the pile on the one handv and the ground threads on the othershould be of different materials Or one or the other or both so treatedin advance of the weaving, or the chemical employed should be soselected, that the ground threads only will be affected by the chemicalreaction.

The operation for the removal of the temporary ground threads may becarried out in any suitable or convenient mannerfor instance, by runninga length of the then vulcanized fabric continuously, first. through atank containing the acid or acid-carrying solution and a heated chamberor over a suitably heated drum, and finally, after a sufficientinterval, between a beater-roll opgrating on its back and a suction-boxat its ace.

It will of course be understood that the invention may be variouslymodified in its several details, within the scope of the appendedclaims, without departing from the principle or sacrificing thesubstantial advantages thereof.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

'1. The process of making a fabric of the character described whichcomprises making a pile fabric having warp and filling, applying to theback of the fabric a permanent backing adhering to and fixing the innerends of the pile, and removing the warp and filling.

2. The process of making a fabric of the character described whichcomprises. first, the aflixing to the looped inner ends of the pile of apile fabric having ground threads a sheet of homogeneous materialproviding a soft pliable backing therefor, and then the removing of theground threads of the fabric.

3. The process of making a fabric of the character described whichcomprises forming a pile fabric with pile and ground threads, applyingto the back of the fabric a soft pliable rubber-like backing ada ted toadhere to the inner ends of the pile o the fabric and to fix the sametherein, and then decomposing chemically and removing from the fabricthe ground threads.

4. The process of making a fabric of the character described whichcomprises makin a pile fabric with pile of animal fibre an groundthreads of vegetable fibre, applying tothc back of the fabric a coatingof soft rubber in manner to adhere to and to fix the pile therein,vulcanizing the fabric, decomposing the vegetable fibres of the groundthreads by chemical action, and removing such decomposed fibres.

5. The process of making imitation fur which comprises making a pilefabric with a pile of animal fibre and ground of cotton warp andfilling, applying to the back of the fabric an adhesive coating. andthen laying thereon a thin sheet, of soft rubber, vulcanizing therubber, treating the fabric with an acid-carrying solution to decomposethe cotton ground threads, and removing from the fabric these decomposedground threads.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a pile fabric comprising a soft,pliable and elastic skin-like'body ofhomogeneous material and aregularly distributed pile of loose fibres fixed therein and boundtogether solely thereby.

7. As a new article of manufacture, an imitation fur comprising a. pileof regularly distributed animal fibres and as the sole body therefor askin-like backing of rubber to which the inner ends of the pile fibresare fixed by vulcanization.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a fabricated fur comprising afur-like body of regularly distributed animal fibres and as the solebacking therefor a skin-like pliable sheet of homogeneous compositionwhich is soft to the touch and in which the folded ends of the fibres ofthe body are imbedded.

CARLOS T. PASTOR.

